Nigerian pilgrims have distanced themselves from a social media post purportedly on the kind of breakfast being served FCT pilgrims.
This story came from a social media post purportedly on the kind of breakfast being served FCT pilgrims after paying N8 million as hajj fare.
Checks on Tuesday, May 28 with FCT pilgrims revealed that no such incident occurred.
The pilgrims expressed doubt concerning the veracity of the story, insisting that the social media post was not from any pilgrim in the Holy Land.
“That person must have eaten more than half of that breakfast before he took the photo of the remnant and mischievously sent it to his friend who posted it on Facebook,” Aliyu Musa, a pilgrim said.
Another pilgrim, Sani Ismail said: “That wasn’t the quantity of food shared to us for breakfast. If anybody should complain, it should be us (the pilgrims) and not someone in Nigeria. Look, nothing of such small ration happened. They are just looking for trouble,” he stated laughing.
Maryam Umar, a female pilgrim observed that, “The food we are served everyday is good and the ration more than enough per pilgrim. Most at times we have to discard the left over because there is nobody in Saudi to give to. So how can somebody snap his left over and send the photo to share as full breakfast ration?”
Meanwhile, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) had also refuted the social media post, calling on the public to ignore it.
NAHCON described it as not only false but also appears to be malicious.
A statement by NAHCON said: “After addressing the shared story from its root, we believe ethical journalism would not permit a sensible practitioner to lift a story solely from a Facebook source. What is more unfortunate is that the Facebook reporter is here in Nigeria, not in Saudi Arabia.
“Upon citing the story early this morning, NAHCON immediately drew the attention of the originator of the story privately and publicly to the inaccuracy of his claims to allow him correct the wrong impression, assuming he posted it innocently, unfortunately, he did not.
“Still, several testimonies were posted on his page by pilgrims on ground in Makkah disclaiming the allegation with pictorial evidences, while NAHCON staff on the platform also provided a clear description of the actual meal that was served, proving that the picture was doctored and that it was a fake news.
